As data center backlash grows, another GOP governor draws a line

Por Megan Messerly — POLITICO – TOP Stories

Nevada Gov. Joe Lombardo (R) is moving to put new guardrails on data centers seeking state tax breaks as Republicans confront mounting voter anxiety over the power-hungry facilities.

Lombardo’s new executive order, signed Friday, comes amid a broader political reckoning with data centers and AI just weeks before the midterm elections. The Nevada governor is locked in a tight re-election contest with Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford, who released his own data center plan last month, mirroring the dynamics playing out in dozens of close congressional and gubernatorial races across the country.

Data centers “must pay their share, protect our water resources, keep costs from being passed on to ratepayers, and protect the communities that host them,” Lombardo said in a statement.

Data centers have become a major flashpoint in the Nevada race. Ford has attacked Lombardo over campaign money from donors tied to the industry and accused him of failing to rein in rising costs, while Lombardo allies have pointed to Ford’s own role in creating Nevada’s data center tax break program, noting that he co-sponsored the bipartisan 2015 law establishing the incentives while serving as state Senate Democratic leader.

It’s also the latest example of a GOP candidate threading the needle between their voters — who are increasingly wary of data centers — and the leader of their party. While the White House has given Republican candidates a leash to take more hardline positions on data centers, President Donald Trump has aggressively defended them, saying that communities resisting the facilities are “making a mistake” and this week dismissing broader calls to slow AI development, arguing that doing so would only benefit China.

A senior White House official, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said earlier this month that the president takes a state-by-state approach on data centers.

“He looks at each state,” the official said. “He sees a lot of upside with data centers, with the caveat, again, that there are real concerns, and we’re addressing those concerns. But by and large, these data centers can be a net positive.”

Ford, in a statement, slammed the new policy, calling it a “last-ditch excuse for an executive order that maintains the status quo.”

“Lombardo’s executive order is not a reflection of what Nevada communities are asking for,” he said.

Under Lombardo’s new executive order, companies seeking the incentives must cover the power costs associated with their projects, protect existing customers from higher bills and meet new standards on water use and grid reliability. The state can suspend or claw back tax breaks for companies that violate those commitments.

Lombardo’s campaign has been floating a policy along these lines for more than a month, but the executive order lands squarely within the political playbook that Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio is urging Republicans to adopt as the GOP grapples with how to both neutralize and attack on the data center issue in real time.

In a Sept. 14 memo, Fabrizio warned that unqualified support for more data centers is a “losing position,” citing polling showing broad opposition to additional construction. He instead recommended that GOP candidates and policymakers support data center development only if companies pay their own way, protect families from higher utility bills and safeguard local water and other resources.

A July POLITICO Poll found that 41 percent of Americans would oppose a data center being built within three miles of where they live, up from 28 percent in a similar survey in January. The number supporting those projects dropped during the same period, from 37 percent to 24 percent.

And while voters who cast ballots for Kamala Harris are souring most quickly on data centers, both MAGA and non-MAGA Trump voters are becoming more wary of data centers, with their support dropping by 12 percentage points between January and July.

Under Lombardo’s executive order, companies seeking state assistance will have to bear “the full burden of the costs” their projects create and are obligated to ensure that “no ratepayer pays more because a data center was built.” Applicants for tax breaks must also agree to meet water standards, cover the cost of serving their facilities and comply with grid reliability requirements.

While the order declares a broader state policy that data centers should not shift costs onto ratepayers, its binding new requirements only apply to companies seeking state tax breaks. Ford, by contrast, has called for pausing new data center tax breaks pending a review of the economic benefits of doing so.

Khara Boender, director of government affairs in the West for the Data Center Coalition, said that while the organization has some “concerns” that the executive order will “create additional hurdles to data center development in Nevada,” it shares his “commitment to job creation and protecting Nevada’s natural resources.”

The order also directs Nevada energy officials to develop a plan by the end of the year to speed up the power infrastructure needed to serve large new electricity loads through 2036.

Fonte: POLITICO – TOP Stories